The most tedious man on the planet speaks:
The Senate’s healthcare bill would lose 12 Democratic votes in the House, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said Wednesday.
Stupak, the sponsor of an amendment to the House healthcare bill that barred federal subsidies for health plans covering abortion, said that 12 lawmakers who had previously supported healthcare reform legislation in the House would be ready to switch.
“It’s accurate to say there are at least 12 of us who voted for healthcare that have indicated to the speaker and others that unless you change this language, we will vote against it,” Stupak said during an appearance on MSNBC.
Name them, Bart. Until then, STFU.
Kind of crazy that an atheist can’t chair a committee but a panty-sniffing religious moralist can attempt to sink the signature legislation of the party and no one blinks.
*** Update ***
Bart’s number: 202-225-4735
Suggested Script: “Hi, my name is XXXXX and I am from XXXXX, and while not normally a constituent, Rep. Stupak insists on making me with his repeated attempts to kill HCR because of his fetus fetish. Please be assured I intend to donate the maximum amount to any opponent of Bart’s, Republican or Democrat, if he manages to torpedo HCR, andwill worked to have him stripped of any and all committee assignments and removed from the Democratic caucus. And this includes if he should have any delusional gubernatorial aspirations.”
Maude
And F off.
Zifnab
Well, Politico suggests that Stark said mean and hurtful things, hurting precious Congress critter feelings. Meanwhile, Stark has been shilling for the insurance industry with the height of politeness and respect.
BenA
It’s like sometime starting in ohhh about 1990 we decided to have a contest to see who the worst possible people in the country were… and then we put them in congress.
SGEW
Representative Stark (tho’ I may regard him with a great deal of fondness for his historically important political position(cf.)), is not necessarily the finest example for atheists. There was that whole ethics investigation (an investigation in which he was exonerated, but in which he did not put himself forward in the most flattering light), plus his unfortunate tendency to use remarkably charged language (e.g., “whore”).
I mean, I’d still vote for him if I was one of his constituents, but I rather prefer it when he stays off the national stage.
Also: My congressperson no longer chairs the Ways and Means Committee, dammit! It was actually one of the reasons I moved uptown (I was a big Rangel fan, back in th’ day). Le sigh. [Speaking of people who shouldn’t be held up as an example.]
kommrade reproductive vigor
One thing I’ve never been clear on (and I’m assuming Stupakfied is): Do health plans for federal employees currently cover abortion?
eric
Dude: step away from the keyboard. Stupak is a tool, an ass, an opportunist, a liar, whatever you want to call him.
But with Lieberman and McCain in the Senate, there is no way that Stupak is the “most” tedious man on the planet.
And I do not like the guy, but he does not have the ability to get on the Sunday shows EVERY time he wants. He is a one-trick pony.
jl
You forgot to say that right thinking Christian or otherwise believing or non-believing people cannot support a liar, since the HCR will not in fact result in significant public subsidies for abortions beyond what exist now. And that makes Stupak a liar, which is in violation of the ten commandments. QED. Ipso-facto.
And Stupak is going to hell if he does not stop lying. Also.
Keith
I recommend using your best Bobcat Goldthwait voice.
Napoleon
@kommrade reproductive vigor:
Yes they do.
eemom
Stupidpak’s in good company. Over at Lake Batshit, Lady Jane is publicly sneering at the idea that the bill will pass the House.
A Mom Anon
I called and told the really tired sounding but polite lady on the phone that Rep Stupak must have forgot about the Hyde Ammendment which already addresses his concerns and that Roe V Wade made abortion legal,regardless of his personal religious beliefs.
Kennedy
Why would we only donate in the event that he manages to torpedo HCR? I want this asshole gone regardless.
Waynski
I just tried to send Stupak an email and he’s set up the website so you can’t choose any state but Michigan. Guess he’s been getting lots of fan mail from outside his District.
John Cole
@eric: Tedious is precisely what he is. Lieberman and McCain eat least have new and different ways of being pricks.
John Cole
@eemom: She has completely lost the script and I don’t even pay attention to her anymore. Neither is anyone else.
She could have really been a positive force. Such a shame.
Ohmmade
Stupak’s aide told me to go to their website, he has another call and then hung up on me.
I called back to tell him I don’t have access to a computor box with internets, and he said “it’s not our problem” and hung up again.
My real rep in Michigan is a [R] fuckwad, so it’s useless calling him.
Evinfuilt
@John Cole:
I’ll give you that, both are excellent at disagreeing with themselves in a matter of hours, if the President happened to agree with them.
Tim F.
I would recommend against non-constituents phoning Stupak. He won’t care what you think and if enough people piss him off he will just dig in harder. Better to have readers phone their conservadem Reps to find out who makes up this secret abortion army.
mr. whipple
While you’re at it, why not add Rep. Marcy Kaptur to this list? She was in thick with Stupak to get his amendment included.
And also Kucinich. I saw him on Cspan 3 yesterday right after Obama’s speech. (A replay from an appearance in the morning.) He said he won’t vote for the Senate bill because it doesn’t contain a PO, but he also didn’t vote for the original House bill that DID have a PO. He’s holding out for his single payer pony, and used a lot of GOP talking points- we need to slow down, start over, people are worried about this bill, yaddayadda.
slag
Personally, I’m going the other way on this. I’m calling my reps asking them to hold the bill hostage in favor of abortion rights. A couple of my demands include:
1. Buy one abortion, get one free
2. Free Abortion Fridays
If the HCR bill doesn’t include my demands, I’m going to personally hold Bart Stupak hostage until he pinky swears that he will stay out of every uterus in the entire country. Including any that happen to want him there.
Kennedy
@Tim F.: He is going to dig in regardless. That is what self-righteous apostates do.
I think using the Halter fund raising/LA-Sen primary as an example of what might await him may be an appropriate analogy.
Comrade Jake
@eemom:
I LOL’d at “Lake Batshit”. I can’t remember the last time I visited the site. Just got tired of all the nonsense and hysterics.
Will
Stark is an atheist? I like him more already.
Citizen Alan
If you want to get at Stupak, start shining a light on that creep sex cult that he’s involved in. I swear, if we could get that big fat rock on C Street turned over, all the skeletons buried underneath would take out half the Republicans in Congress and most of the House Dems that we all agree are total assholes.
Comrade Jake
From the Politico article on Stark:
I’m starting to really like this guy. I didn’t realize the truth was so bizarre and offensive to Politico.
Persia
@Tim F.: Agreed with Tim F. Call your rep and tell him or her what you want!
Robertdsc-iphone
@eemom:
doesn’t single payer have a mandate as well? Hard to see red states not acting the same way if SP ever came to be the law of the land.
Napoleon
@mr. whipple:
I hate Kucinich. What a preening a-hole. I so wanted him to get picked off in the primary last year but unfortunately 1/2 dozen people ran against him.
Napoleon
@Robertdsc-iphone:
Well, yeah it is called the IRS. If you do not pay your taxes which pay for the single payor coverage they haul your ass to jail.
Paris
This is Stupak’s 15 minutes. Nobody heard of him before this. He’s a misogynist male chauvenist blowhard from the old school. Nancy will be blinking and Stupak will have a choice between STFU, becoming a eunuch, or taking a long nap in cement shoes ala Nancy’s Baltimore connection. That ‘Chicago machine’ is nothing compared to what Nancy used to get to where she is.
someguy
What an unprincipled, crooked little man.
John O
Called, read pretty much from the script, but deviated a bit by saying I would do everything I could to make him suffer if he succeeded.
“What do you mean?”
“Donating to his opponents, writing his leadership…”
“So you don’t mean physically.”
“No! I’m not a whack job like the people he’s courting.”
“I’ll pass the message along.” Click.
The man is making a play for the King of All Douches.
Paris
@Robertdsc-iphone:
I never understood the resistance to the mandate since that is exactly what single payer is – to put it another way, I don’t understand why it isn’t explained a s a ‘single payer’ like system where you pay the insurance companies instead of the gov’t. or the gov’t isn’t thee insurance company. Mandate + subsidies + exchanges may not be the most cost effective way, but it gets the job done.
bemused
It’s extremely tedious that I and other liberals, moderates and independents are constantly, vociferously accused of trying to force hysterical ranting reactionaries to become live and let live americans. Pot/kettle.
John O
I’m so sick of this prick I called again and asked if the Congressman thought he was going to save a single fetus by shutting down HCR.
I pointed out that maybe more poor people in particular would be willing and able to carry babies to term if they had health care.
I was asked if I lived in the District, and said no, at which point I was politely hung up on, to the extent that’s possible.
Zuzu's Petals
I just called Stupak’s office. The woman who answered cut me off and talked over me as soon as I mentioned donating to opponents, saying “Thank you very much, I cannot discuss campaign issues and I’m going to hang up.” When I said I was discussing the HCR vote she said, “You are talking about a campaign issue and you need to contact his campaign office” and hung up.
I called back right away and simply said I wanted to discuss HCR, and that if he torpedoed the vote I would do everything I could to see that he was stripped of his committee assignments … didn’t even get to mention the Dem caucus part before she said “Thank you very much” and hung up.
J. A. Baker
John, you might want to proofread that script. The first sentence is missing a key verb and “will worked” is in the wrong tense.</Grammar Nazi>
Houstonian
Just called and said a revised version of what is in John Cole’s “suggested script.” Staffer asked me what organization I was with because they’d been getting a lot of calls saying much the same thing. I said I wasn’t with any organization (would Balloon Juicers count as an organization? LOL) and didn’t know of any organization calling. I was calling as an individual.
Staffer apparently didn’t believe me, saying, “So it’s just a coincidence that a bunch of people are calling saying pretty much the same thing?” I wasn’t sure what to say to that, but, “No, I’m not with any organization. I don’t know about what anyone else is doing.”
Then the staffer cut me off, saying, “Thanks, I’ll pass it along.” and hung up on me.
Don’t think his office is very happy about these calls. I might call again later if I get a moment.
Tim F.
@Houstonian: These calls are a waste of time. Please stop instigating Stupak and phone your own Congressperson or Senators instead.
Svensker
Here in NJ, I have had two calls yesterday and today from Americans United for Change asking me to call congresscritters to PTDB.
Anyone else getting them?
TheBigotBasher
Surely you must see that a bunch of cells in the womb of a woman is of far greater importance than the life of a mother unable to get cancer treatment because she has reached her annual insurance limit?
Every sperm is sacred after all.
Aaron Baker
I had no idea Stark was an atheist–so you’ve furthered my education once again.
I’m curious, though: the article you doesn’t mention atheism at all; has someone suggested that’s a real motive for finding him unacceptable?
Perry Como
Go for the TBogg, stay for the…actually, just go for the TBogg.
lol
Republicans sound unhappy with the ultimate choice anyways so that’s a plus.
joes527
Why is this a big deal now?
Everyone has known since October of last year that it would come to this. Bart is right on schedule.
If in all that time the only plan formulated to get past this has been for bloggers to prank call the congressman’s office … then HCR died last year.
Nancy will use her kung-fu grip on him to get him to relent, or pull the rug out by coming up with the votes w/o him and his followers. If the leadership doesn’t have some sort of a plan, and were just *hoping* that it wouldn’t be an issue this time around, then we are all well and truly screwed.
Jim C.
I got the impression that whomever was answering the phone is getting a bit sick of people calling in.
The attitude that I got when I called was kind of a “Yeah, yeah…are we done yet so I can hang up?”
Tim F.
@Jim C.: That is the right attitude. His staff have no reason to care what you think. These calls gain nothing and make it harder for people like Obama and Pelosi to talk Stupak down. At least IMO.
Armando
When pragmatism meets political reality.
I actually have a suggestion to dealing with this issue.
But it involves eliminating the subsidies for the purchase of private insurance and auto-enrolling folks in a public insurance program, subject to the Hyde Amendment.
windshouter
@Napoleon
It is my understanding that health plans offered to federal employees cannot offer abortions due to the Hyde provisions.
Google says
link . I’m not clear if there are riders available in this program.
Don’t think it matters because Stupak is probably a lost cause, but it might be worth noting that the Senate Nelson provisions are good enough and can’t be changed in reconciliation anyway. The Hyde amendment bars Medicaid funding of abortions, but states like California offer abortions though programs that aren’t technically Medicaid but just look a lot like it. The burden is on the accountants and not the users of California Medicaid and we think that’s good enough. All funding of abortions in susidized insurance in the Senate bill is through mandatory on-top contributions with separate checks and even that seems beyond Hyde.
Jim C.
@Tim F
You don’t think a large number of liberals from across the country calling in to threaten to donate to his opponent in the next election is a reason for his staff to care?
I know that I can’t VOTE against Stupak, but I can donate against him.
kay
I called. Told the person who answered I resented Rep. Stupak continuing to hijack the Democratic Party’s signature issue with his self-serving grandstanding on abortion.
His assistant cut me off in about 20 seconds. immediately. Said he had to take another call.
I suggest you have your spiel ready. They aren’t at all interested, apparently.
Is this guy running for governor? Anyone from Michigan know?
danimal
@Paris: Agreed. I’ll never understand how the mandate became so offensive to people that support single payer. Mandates were always a liberal position. The 2008 campaign wasn’t that long ago.
robertdsc
I read recently that he decided against running. The article I read said that he was miffed that the Michigan Democratic Party didn’t clear the field for him as a reason why. I don’t remember where I read it, so I guess you can take it with a grain of salt.
kay
@joes527:
I don’t really buy it. I think it’s an excuse to vote against health care. I don’t think Bart Stupak ever intended to actually come through on the Democratic Party’s signature issue, because doing so carries risk. He’s got other unnamed objections that he has not deigned to share with us yet.
You know, it would be really helpful if these individual members would stop with all this bullshit and just come out with the fact that they’re casting around for excuses not to actually come through on this.
That would be decent, and honest, and we could go from there.
kommrade reproductive vigor
@Napoleon: Silly me. Expecting logic or consistency from a one note anti-abortion pony.
El Cid
Anyone see what moron piece of shit Lanny Davis had to say? Via his crap spew in the The Hill (also featured on the Huffington Post):
Right. How dare the elected President attempt to pass major legislation without the approval of the losing opposition candidate of the Party holding a legislative minority?
Why on Earth would anyone give a shit what John McCain thinks about health care legislation? And if Democrat consultant class douchebag worthless Davis got his way, and President McCain shaped his “destroy all health care regulation” policies the way he wanted, and the country’s health insurance system became a collapsing, rule-free disaster thanks to relocating all headquarters in Mississippi or Wyoming after those states passed the You Owe Nothing To Your Insured Customers act, what responsibility would Mr. Davis have to all the Americans he’d fucked over because he wanted to kill more insurer and pharmaceutical ass as a hired prostitute for their interests [in the name of fake bipartisanship in the guise of kissing John McCain’s lying ass]?
Lanny, why don’t you just fucking go back to being a hired hack for Latin American military-backed regimes and leave the governance of the U.S. to people who might be worth half a shit?
kay
@robertdsc:
Didn’t “clear the field” for him? Why would they do that?
As far as I can tell his three issues are
1. grandstanding on abortion, 2. misrepresenting the Hyde Amendment 3. dumb-ass “market-based” ideas on Great Lakes water.
Michigan is in a world of hurt.
Abortion, an inability to read a statute and selling Lake Michigan aren’t really going to cut it.
bay of arizona
He holds committee positions at the discretion of the Democratic caucus. There are ways to strip him of it after November. We need to start a whip count.
We should also be calling other members and ask them if they side with him.
Tim F.
@Jim C.: No, I don’t think that his office staff cares what you think. Stupak will raise more money in an afternoon than the readers of this blog could possibly offer his primary opponent.
robertdsc
You know what’s funny? Last week he held a hearing on the Anthem rate hikes and said, specifically, that such abuses would continue unless HCR was passed. Fucking jackass.
eyepaddle
I just called McCollum from MN–something I’ve done before, it seems that she was on the fence the last time, does anybody know if that has changed? It seems that I forgot to ask for the congreswoman’s position. Sigh.
Um Yeah
Has there ever been an investigation of “The Family”?
Would RICO statutes apply?
geg6
Didn’t take your advice here, John. Sorry, but I don’t think Stupak’s staff would even pass on the message.
I did, however, call Jason Altmire’s office with a sternly worded message for him. He’s never gonna vote for this bill or any other, since he’s a fully owned subsidiary of UPMC Health Systems. But he’s been awfully smug the last few weeks in the local and national media about how conservative he is and how much he hates HCR because it takes away our FREEDOMS! (R) and how his district is full ‘o real Merikins. So I thought I should remind him once again that he’s gotta win a Dem primary over and over and over again so them there real Merikins who he loves so much and who aren’t Dems will get the chance to vote for him again and again and again. The dimwit staffer I talked to said to me that it isn’t much of a problem since Altmire has the support of lots of Independents and GOPers. I though it best not to mention that PA has closed primaries. ;-)
Oh, and I mailed a letter saying pretty much exactly what I said to the staffer. Hopefully, my congressman has a better understanding of the electoral process than his staffer.
Allan
Bart Stupak, Jr. committed suicide in 2000. Does that mean he’s in Hell?
Tonal Crow
Whether or not you bother with Stupak, please call the other Blue Dogs, the Progressives, and as many Senators as you can stand and ask them to PTDB.
Tonal Crow
@danimal:
Because many people trust a Medicare-like single payer but dislike and distrust private insurers, and believe (with significant justification) that they will use every trick in the book to get around restrictions on rescission and other slimy practices.
chadwig
Talked to a nice gentleman at the Petosky office and he told me that Stupak is “fully aware” of the disproportionate effect his abortion language would have on poor and middle-class women vs. the rich.
He said it came down to his “moral” position and the “fact” that a majority of his constituents are “pro-life”.
I think it’s just that Stupak is just fetishistic about poor women’s naughty bits.
Blech.
Today, 1:39:57 PM
– Flag – Like – Reply – Delete – Edit – Moderate
Kennedy
I don’t understand why it’s somehow not productive to threaten Stupak with funding his primary opponent, yet we’ve got an Act Blue account going on this site for Halter.
NR
@joes527:
I’m sure the leadership does have a plan – roll over and give him everything he wants. That’s what they do every time a conservative complains.
It’s only progressives that get the strong-arm tactics.
Rommie
If he sticks to his “moral” position after Face the Nancy, then I’ll give him credit for keeping to the guns. Otherwise , we’ll see what tune he sings after the visit that is coming.
It’s his “dozen” supporters that will get the Full Nancy anyway, as they don’t have to go down with the ship like Capt. Stupak. Get them into the lifeboats, and he becomes Irrelevant.
Corner Stone
@NR:
And the demands to “Be An Adult, Dammit!”
Save us Prog-Won-Kenobi! You’re our only hope!
Houstonian
@Tim F.:
I called my Congresswoman today (Sheila Jackson Lee) and posted about that in the thread below. I could waste my time and money calling my Senators, but Cornyn and Hutchison won’t care what I have to say. I’ve done it a few times, just to be sure they know they’ve got non-wingnut constituents out there, but in general my call won’t change anything about how they vote.
Tim F.
@eyepaddle: Call back and ask.
Tonal Crow
@Houstonian: If you have the time and money, call Representatives and Senators from other states.
Jim C.
@Tim F
Stupak is really that well funded? Keep in mind, it isn’t just Balloon Juice readers he’s ticking off. He’s ticking off pretty much the entire base of the Democratic party with these antics.
I understand that, as an overall subsegment of the population, this blog remains pretty small. But I would think just about any Democrat paying even the most remote amount of attention would be ticked at what this guy is doing.
Basically he’s doing his best to kill what might be the biggest expansion of the social safety net since FDR.
SiubhanDuinne
So now Nathan Deal (R-GA), who announced his resignation from Congress a couple of days ago so he can run for governor of Georgia, has decided to stay in the House longer than planned so he can vote against the HCR legislation.
I call flip-flop.
Oh, wait. Flip-flopping like every other form of hypocrisy, is OKIYAR.
joes527
@NR:
Would even that work?
Suppose they do staple a coat hanger on to the end of the bill. What then? It will still pull exactly 0 republican votes, and probably very few conservative democratic votes. It will push folks out of the tent on the other side and the vote count will still be short.
There had better either be a plan to bring Bart in line (nagannahappen) or come up with the votes w/o him. If this plan hinges on blogospheric vapors, then we are just fucked. Plain and simple.
This on is in Nancy’s court. She has had 4 months to get ready. (and yes, target individuals with calls from constituents) Realizing in March that that problem we had in October didn’t fix itself isn’t going to get this across the line.
eyepaddle
@Tim F.:
I called back, I think it was the same polite staffer that I spoke with, but she just referred me to McCollum’s website. Since she voted for the original house bill, and hasn’t been making any obnoxious noises, I think she’ll fall in line when Pelosi needs her to–but I am not positive.
Tim F.
@Tonal Crow: No, do not call politicians from other states. Their staffs are well-trained to ignore whatever you have to say. Anyone who calls without a local zip code becomes white noise as far as they are concerned.
Tonal Crow
@Tim F.: That’s B.S.
First, many staffers don’t ask where you’re calling from. And I know, ‘cuz I call nationwide all the frickin’ time.
Second, *you* occupy the line with a progressive voice, which means that someone else is not occupying it with a troglodyte voice.
Third, even if the staffer you talk with is “well-trained to ignore whatever you have to say”, it still has a subliminal effect, and the more calls she has to “ignore”, the harder it becomes to do so.
Fourth, every congresscritter — and every staffer — knows that money doesn’t come exclusively from within their districts, or even from within their states. And they all know that money follows attitudes.
By all means call your congresscritters first. But please call others as well. If we don’t, the teabaggers will simply outshout us. You think *they* aren’t calling everyone?
Kobie
Stupak’s no better than the bronze medalist in the 100-meter Senate Tedium race.
demkat620
Call the D trip and call the DNC and tell them, no more money for that assclown.
Fuck you Stupak.
KS
Also, too, I will create a corporation. It will be Fuck You, Bart Stupak, Inc. Using that corporation’s new found Citizens United Right to Free Speech I will go above and beyond the personal limit to donate to all Bart Stupak opponents. Who else is in? I’ve got space for 10-15 corrupt people to be on the board of that corporation with me.
JWW
Tell me John,
Name them, Bart. Until then, STFU.
Why is it China isn’t doing so well other than buying our debt. You and your readers, fools like you, really do have a conviction of “think like me or?”. You are a walking POS, you always have been. You were a POS in the military and you are a POS now. The USA is a country where the laws effect everyone not a country club where the laws only effect the members. When you wet your pants at night do you blame someone else or just say to yourself, “I’m getting old and it’s okay”?
bob h
A religious moralist who doesn’t think twice about sabotaging efforts to end the premature deaths of 30-40,000 people a year from lack of healthcare.
deadrody
Fetus fetish ?
Assholes indeed. You mean the ones writing this post and running this blog, right ?
Good lord, I am actually pro-choice, but “fetus fetish” ? Are you assholes for real ?
VenturaHwyBill
you’re small, but I just found you ! ( I’m in Calif.) I sent $25 to primary challenger Halter the other night, and the reason I found your site is because I’m ANXIOUS for PCCC to find a primary challenger against Mr. “block history” Stupak so I can CONTRIBUTE to that challenger ! ! Thousands of people giving $10 goes a hell of a ways in a congressional race. Don’t underestimate yourselves !
(and let’s get a challenger for Altmire, too ! )